Thursday, 12 February 2015

Against Voting.

*Needs editing and organisation*"Thus we can't vote out wage-slavery. We can't vote out the extraordinary extremes of wealth and poverty that the capitalist system produces. We can't vote out the sacrifice of every ethical, moral, social, environmental and humanitarian consideration to the holy gospel of profit. We can't vote out the system that fulfills human needs only as long as the human beings involved have enough money to pay. We can't vote out patriarchy and institutionalised racism. We can't vote out the imperialist wars that the West is waging in Iraq and Afghanistan to control the flow of oil in the name of fighting the sort of terrorism that it perpetuates. We can't vote out corporations, private tyrannies with internally autocratic decision-making structures whose global reach renders the governments of individual nation-states obsolete as well as illegitimate. We can only vote for the carrot from the left or the stick from the right—either way, wage-slavery continues.""If elections are just something in which some portion of the population goes and pushes a button every couple of years, they don't matter." - ChomskyVoting doesn't change anything. The fundamental power relations and forms of oppression which make up society will only be changed form. You can't vote away inequality.

You always have a right to complain, whether you vote or not. In fact it could be argued that you have less right to complain if you did vote since in voting you agree to whatever the result may be and that you vote for a candidate. I don't buy that argument though because I don't think the authority is legitimate in the first place. If you do you might be bound to that argument.

I believe voting is ultimately a sham and that it's almost irrelevant and insignificant in relation to people collectively taking action themselves at a grassroots level(Direct Action)

If we seek a society in which ordinary people are in control of their own lives( surely the very meaning of democracy) and I myself do then it is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve that goal by means of voting.

At best voting is irrelevant and insignificant. At worse, it positively hinders other types of grassroots action and campaigns working for social change. That has proved true again and again, most recently in the referendum campaign.

You can indeed vote and organize and I find that less problematic. It's just rare to see people do both and rare to see people not be sucked into electoral politics.The systems of oppression in society cannot be changed by changing the person in charge. It's not whos in charge but that there is power relations at all. It doesn't matter whether its Obama, SNP,SWP,SSP, Greens or anyone else. The systems of oppression in society will still exist. White supremacy can be fronted by a black man. And as Thatcher proved Patriarchy can be headed by a woman.Voting has historically never proven to better society either. The working class got the vote, that never helped things. They just got co-opted. Women got the vote, they just got co-opted. Black people got the vote, they just got co-opted....

And we've had most parties have been in power somewhere in the world and have never made things better even 'communist' or green partiesWe should judge political parties and politicians but what they do not by what they say, "actions speak louder than words after all"